Li Jing, Guo Hao, Ge Ling, Cheng Long, Wang Junjie, Li Hong, Zhang Kerang, Xiang Jie, Chen Junjie, Zhang Hui, Xu Yong
Department of Humanities and Social Science, Shanxi Medical UniversityTaiyuan, China.
Department of Computer Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of TechnologyTaiyuan, China.
Front Neurosci. 2017 Jul 14;11:410. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00410. eCollection 2017.
Cerebralcare Granule® (CG), a Chinese herbal medicine, has been used to ameliorate cognitive impairment induced by ischemia or mental disorders. The ability of CG to improve health status and cognitive function has drawn researchers' attention, but the relevant brain circuits that underlie the ameliorative effects of CG remain unclear. The present study aimed to explore the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of CG in ameliorating cognitive function in sub-healthy subjects using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Thirty sub-healthy participants were instructed to take one 2.5-g package of CG three times a day for 3 months. Clinical cognitive functions were assessed with the Chinese Revised Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-RC) and Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), and fMRI scans were performed at baseline and the end of intervention. Functional brain network data were analyzed by conventional network metrics (CNM) and frequent subgraph mining (FSM). Then 21 other sub-healthy participants were enrolled as a blank control group of cognitive functional. We found that administrating CG can improve the full scale of intelligence quotient (FIQ) and Memory Quotient (MQ) scores. At the same time, following CG treatment, in CG group, the topological properties of functional brain networks were altered in various frontal, temporal, occipital cortex regions, and several subcortical brain regions, including essential components of the executive attention network, the salience network, and the sensory-motor network. The nodes involved in the FSM results were largely consistent with the CNM findings, and the changes in nodal metrics correlated with improved cognitive function. These findings indicate that CG can improve sub-healthy subjects' cognitive function through altering brain functional networks. These results provide a foundation for future studies of the potential physiological mechanism of CG.
脑心健颗粒（CG）是一种中药，已被用于改善缺血或精神障碍引起的认知障碍。CG改善健康状况和认知功能的能力引起了研究人员的关注，但其改善作用背后的相关脑回路仍不清楚。本研究旨在使用静息态功能磁共振成像（fMRI）探索CG改善亚健康受试者认知功能的潜在神经生物学机制。30名亚健康参与者被指示每天服用三包2.5克的CG，持续3个月。使用中国修订韦氏成人智力量表（WAIS-RC）和韦氏记忆量表（WMS）评估临床认知功能，并在基线和干预结束时进行fMRI扫描。通过传统网络指标（CNM）和频繁子图挖掘（FSM）分析功能性脑网络数据。另外招募21名亚健康参与者作为认知功能的空白对照组。我们发现服用CG可以提高智商全量表（FIQ）和记忆商数（MQ）得分。同时，CG治疗后，在CG组中，额叶、颞叶、枕叶皮质的各个区域以及几个皮质下脑区的功能性脑网络拓扑特性发生了改变，包括执行注意力网络、突显网络和感觉运动网络的重要组成部分。FSM结果中涉及的节点与CNM结果基本一致，节点指标的变化与认知功能改善相关。这些发现表明，CG可以通过改变脑功能网络来改善亚健康受试者的认知功能。这些结果为未来研究CG的潜在生理机制奠定了基础。
